Harcourt had some big reorganization and everyone who ever worked on the Woodcutters left the company. In a way, getting dumped was a blessing–few authors have positive experiences working with a new editor after they’ve been “orphaned.”

It also paved the way for a project I’d pitched that they’d turned down: Writing a short novel based on what happened to Trix in Hero (a storyline they made me remove from the book entirely because “pacing”).

My goal was to finish Trix’s novel and use it to teach myself all the ways of this new-fangled “indie publishing.” I had launched my own small press back in 2005 (Nyx Books), but a lot had changed in the decade since I’d dipped my toe in the print-on-demand business. I did have a leg up, having owned a publishing company before and having a ton of contacts in the industry…but that also made it scarier. Because I knew just what I was getting myself into, and the superior level of quality I expected from my books.

And let’s be honest: mentally, after getting dumped, I felt like a Giant Failure. Plus, remember how 2014 was the year that a bunch of my close friends and family kept dying?

Yeah. One doesn’t exactly snap back from that.

It took a while to get off the ground, but eventually Trixter was published, along with Tales of Arilland (the fairy tale short story collection I’d pitched and gotten rejected) and a few other things. I even wrote a sequel called Trix and the Faerie Queen — not something I’d originally planned, but a plotline I realize I LOVED.

I started writing Thieftess (Thursday’s book). I even had a model do a photo shoot for Thursday’s cover. (Yes, we still have those pics. She is SO Thursday!)

I wanted to get myself on better financial ground before I completely threw myself into writing the rest of the series. It takes a lot of head space to get into a series like the Woodcutters, and anxieties like “bills” and “utilities” and “credit card debt” and “car repairs” really chip away at that space. (I still have no car, btw. Haven’t for over a year.)

What I found out was: continuing to write in the world of Arilland wasn’t making me significant money. The reason? I don’t have the rights to the first three books. I can’t put them on sale, or make the first one permafree. I can’t offer them up for Bookbub deals.

I make 89.9 cents on every paperback copy of Enchanted sold (as opposed to $2-3 on each indie book sold). I get that money twice a year. And those books aren’t selling particularly well. Enchanted, Hero, and Dearest combined pull in about $2000 every six months. That’s not nearly enough to live on. The up side is, once the sales of those books fall below a certain threshold, I can have the rights back.

So you see my dilemma.

When I get my rights back for Enchanted, Hero, and Dearest, here is the plan:

–Reprint all of the books, with better covers. (I’ll keep the titles, because we’re in this too far to change them now.)

–Release an “author’s preferred edition” of Enchanted, that puts back in most of the 30,000 words the publisher asked me to take out. (A lot of this is about Prince Rumbold, which was published in Tales of Arilland as “The Cursed Prince.” A lot are deleted scenes I read on YouTube.)

–Audible is still interested in producing the rest of the series. My heart is beyond broken that my dearest Katy Kellgren won’t be able to perform the rest of them. But I would definitely point them in Gabrielle Baker’s direction, after her stellar performance of Tales of Arilland.

What I am doing right now: I am writing.

I spent years teaching myself every aspect of indie publishing…and realized the hard way that I’d taken the wrong road by pursuing the Woodcutters. I ended 2016 broke, desperate, and still writing like mad.

I threw everything I had into my career, pulled out all the stops. Thus my recent (and awesome!) endeavors in Nocturne Falls, the “Once” anthologies, and The Simi’s ABCs book.

I also have plans to start a new series–comedy romance, like the books I write for NFU, but obviously more fairy tale based. In fact, I’ve seeded a bunch of characters and worldbuilding into my NFU books already…

Yes. I would like to at least finish Book Three of The Trix Adventures (Trix and the Fire Witch), but as of the writing of this post, my life is All Nocturne Falls All the Time. And traveling with Sherri. And narrating stories for ACX and IGMS. And doing about a thousand other things to try and bring in every penny I can, because I know how fickle this industry is, and I’m still not standing on financially solid ground.

So there you have it. The very long (and mildly depressing) answer.

I would love to be able to write the rest of the Woodcutter Sisters books. As a terminal optimist, I believe that one day, I will be able to. YOU GUYS ARE GOING TO LOVE THEM SO MUCH!

I’ve been asked about self-publishing a lot recently, so I decided it was high time to write up a big, long answer with lots of fabulous and helpful links!

If you are asking yourself “Should I self-publish my book?” — the answer is NO. Self-publishing is a ridiculously hard amount of work (on top of writing your novel in the first place, which was already a ton of work, am I right?). And right now there is a glut of indie-published books out there, which means that once you DO get through the hard work of writing and the harder work of editing and publishing, there’s the virtually-impossible job of actually getting your book actually SEEN and READ by people.

But if self-publishing is so terrible, why are you doing it? Because I’m the stubborn brat who did terribly in English class, but never stopped writing. I got a Chemistry degree and immediately went to work at a bookstore. I moved across state lines and made really bad life choices (I once started a publishing company to impress a boy) and went into debt several times, all for the sake of writing because it is my soul. I was orphaned by two major publishers and still refused to stop writing.

If you are a crazy person like me–and I know you are out there (MY PEOPLE!)–keep reading.

Everyone else: submit your manuscript to an agent or shove it back under the couch, and then go see a movie and be glad I saved you from the really bad decision you were about to make.

*************************************

Princess Alethea’s Self Publishing Basics

The Manuscript

When you have finished writing your novel (we’re going to talk about novels here, because picture books are ENTIRELY different horses), you need three different kinds of editors to look at it: a content editor, a copyeditor, and at least one proofreader.

The content editor’s job is to be sure your manuscript makes sense. Is the pacing right? Does it flow? Did you forget to describe a character? Did you leave a plot hole dangling? Did you write an adventure story when you meant to write a romance? (I’ve done this at least twice.) Did you realize you have an underlying theme of loss that you should really explore and carry out through the resolution?

The content editor will give you revision notes. Take a day to scream and cry about these notes, and then sit down and do the work to make your story better. (The content editor’s job is not to find typos, but she might mark a few.) When your revisions are completed satisfactorily, your manuscript goes to the copyeditor.

The copyeditor’s job is to go through the manuscript with a fine-tooth comb and catch all your typos and grammatical mistakes. They will sort out your hyphens and pry the commas from your cold, dead hands. They will catch inconsistencies or anachronisms. They will point out awkward sentences that should really be rephrased. They will catch that you used the word “small” five times in one paragraph. Once you have fixed all these silly mistakes, it’s time to send your manuscript to the proofreaders.

A proofreader’s job is to catch whatever tiny things the copyeditor didn’t see. In traditional publishing, this is the equivalent of the Advance Readers Copy. My ARCs go to my VIP Review Team and my Brute Squad. There are a couple of readers who I KNOW will catch things my eagle-eyed copyeditor missed, and I pay special attention to those comments.

In the course of my two-decades-plus in the publishing industry, I have professionally held all three of the above positions for major publishers. I am here to tell you that YOU NEED ALL THREE OF THEM. If you are the writer, do not do these jobs yourself. And if you are a writer who CAN do any of these jobs yourself, I bow to you because you are a God.

As in traditional publishing, you should always start with the cleanest version of the manuscript you can. If you are distracting any of these editors with a messy manuscript, it’s possible that they will be concentrating so hard on easily fixable mistakes that they miss something they SHOULD be paying attention to. (And that is often how typos end up in final manuscripts)

My editorial team is made up of my best friend (who happens to be an English professor at a big university), a dear author friend, my fan club, and my mom. It took me a long time to put these folks together, and we are AMAZING. You will find your team. But don’t get discouraged if it takes you a while. And be open to looking in un-obvious places.

Casey has papers to grade, Kat has books to write, and Mom’s not currently offering her proofing services on a professional basis, so I’ve compiled this short list of friends & acquaintances for you to research. Please, DO YOUR RESEARCH. Some of these folks only do one kind of editing, or for specific genres. Each will charge different amounts. Feel free to tell them I sent you, and BE KIND–these are friends of mine!

Even after all these years and thousands of idioms, readers still judge a book by its cover. Your cover is INCREDIBLY important. I spend a LOT of money on the cover art for my novels, and it it 100% worth it.

My cover artist is another amazing author (Rachel Marks) who is no longer taking new clients (because she also has books to write!). Luckily for you, there are a TON of new, great resources out there for covers–even places that provide pre-made covers!

(I do not have a list of resources for these yet.)

The Layout

I am a Mac user, so I have been blessed with the fabulous software that is Vellum. I have been known to tell PC indie authors that it is worth it to buy a Mac, just for the e-book software. And that was BEFORE it could do print layout!

Vellum is magic for e-books. And I suspect I will be doing quite a few print layouts there too, in the future. But outside of that, my go-to for print layout will always be Polgarus Studio. They have made all of my fairy tale books look amazing, and even helped me when I was having massive amount of trouble with Diary of a Mad Scientist Garden Gnome. Their rates are reasonable, communication is excellent, and they provide layout within a week. LOVE THEM.

Retailers

There are websites where you can upload your e-book and they will get it out to all the various retailers…but really, it’s best if you do the Big Five on your own: Kindle, Nook, Kobo, iTunes, and Google Play. (Google Play is a bit problematic…do some research…but I’ve still got a few books there for now.)

You will need to set up accounts, link bank numbers, and fill out tax forms for each of these sites. It is not a short process. And every time you upload the book, you will need to input the metadata. Another not-short process–while all sites require a lot of the same information, every one is different.

Do you need ISBNs from Bowker? That’s up to you. I bought a bunch way back when they were on sale, and I use them mostly for my print books through Ingram…but if you’re only using e-books and Createspace, you don’t need them.

I use both CreateSpace and Ingram for my print books. I did a lot of research before I made this decision. Did I need Ingram? Probably not–they are expensive, and a hassle–but I did want hardcover books. I hear that Nook is now doing hardcovers. I haven’t looked into that yet. But CreateSpace can get you into most of the sales channels you need.

Affiliate Programs

Make sure you are set up on all the Affiliate programs: Amazon, Kobo, and iTunes. I admit, the only one I’ve really seen money back from is Amazon…but you never know. All those nickles and dimes add up eventually. And remember to use these links! I know it’s a pain in the butt, but it’s a good habit to train yourself to get into. DO NOT EVER BUY ANYTHING OFF AMAZON without clicking on a link from a fellow author’s site first. Even if you don’t buy their book, they still get a kickback. IT MAKES A DIFFERENCE. You have no idea how much!

Advertising

The book advertising climate changes every five minutes. It’s true that you have to spend money to make money, but FB ads and newsletter ads and free sites are so prevalent now, it’s tough to make a list of reliable ones. I will say that BookBub ads are still great if you can get them (don’t stop applying!) and Hidden Gems is fabulously reliable for getting ARC reviews!

Also: Be sure to “claim” your books on BookBub and add them to your Amazon Author Profile (make sure you are set up on Author Central) as soon as the buy or pre-order links go live!

Author Central will be indispensable to you as an indie author. Their customer service is bar-none.

Audiobooks

If you’re just starting out with self-publishing, you shouldn’t worry about audiobooks just yet. That said, make sure you also “claim” all your books and short stories on ACX. ACX has a ton of great video tutorials…I highly recommend them. And be prepared to spend a lot of money on your narrator–you get what you pay for. My audiobook narrators have blown me away…and brought me some of the greatest joy. Their exceptional performances remind me why I do what I do!

*************************************

WHEW! Okay, I know that’s a LOT of material, but it really only scratches the surface. I just want to make sure I properly convey the scope of the GIANT HEADACHE you are about to have for the next two-five years.

And if you made it this far…I wish you all the best of luck in the world. Vaya con dios!

I know you’re dutifully following and sharing all the guest bloggers and reviewers of the Trix and the Faerie Queen Blog Tour…but do make sure that you’re following me on ALL THE SOCIAL MEDIA and entering the Prize Pack Giveaway as many times as you can.

Only nine days left!

*******************************

April 2 2016

Today is 211th anniversary of the birth of Hans Christian Andersen. Choosing this day to launch the blog tour for Trix and the Faerie Queen was due more to the happenstance of timing than by design, but in hindsight I cannot think of a better time. As I write this, I am sitting in the Aerie of Phoenix Farm. Across from me is the desk where Jane Yolen wrote some of the books that shaped my youth. The walls that aren’t filled with fairy tale collections are lined with wings and witches, maids and mermen. Out across the cloudy gray landscape dotted with the greens and yellows of impatient spring, the church bells chime into the twilight. The house is full of dreamers ready to write the next generation of beautiful books that shape the next generation of impressionable youths. Jane has challenged us all to make the world a better place. I accept that challenge.

Whether or not I succeed is up to you, dear reader.

Trix Woodcutter and I invite you all to join us on this newest adventure. Trix and the Faerie Queen is filled with more talking animals than I ever thought I would write and a journey to a place from my dreams: Under the Hill, to the high seat of the Faerie Queen. There are so many characters in this story (Alastair is going to hurt me when he starts making notes for the audio)–I won’t tell you which one is my favorite. That is a choice you must make yourself.

I could say more about Trix’s story, but I think perhaps I will let the all the wonderful excerpts and reviews posted along this tour speak for themselves. Plus, Jane has just sat down beside me to chat (Jane says hi, by the way), and Heidi will be calling us all down to dinner soon.

Hey, everybody! I’m officially home from Jane Yolen’s Picture Book Boot Camp…which means I got in late Sunday night and then spent an entire day in bed in excruciating pain (this whole neck thing is *not* my idea of a good time). I’ll be posting pics here in the near future…and maybe some thoughts…it’s just that everything that happened was so magical and surreal that I don’t know if I know words good enough to explain it. And even if I did, I feel like I should be spending that time working on ALL THE IDEAS I had while I was there! I mean, that was the whole point of going, right? You guys want new picture books from me, RIGHT? Well, hold on to your hats…